Woman reportedly pays for 4,000 hours of parking
19/11/2015
A woman in Wiltshire has reportedly been charged for 4,000 hours of parking after trying to pay for just one hour through a PayByPhone service
The accountant, Ruth Ritchie, used the PayByPhone app to pay for one hour's parking while attending an appointment with her financial adviser. The payment should have been just £1.20, but Ms Ritchie received a call from her bank's fraud squad in which she was told that she had been charged £6,500.
The Mirror reported that, according to the owners of the car park, Swindon Borough Council, Ms Ritchie was issued with the charge because she had selected to pay for 4,000 hours of parking through the app, a claim she strongly denies.
Ms Ritchie said: "I'm an accountant so I'm used to keying in numbers. It's absolute rubbish. Plus how can someone even pay for 4,000 hours of parking upfront?"
She added: "I very clearly paid for one hour of parking. There must be a fault on the system as it kept cutting off when I was trying to pay.
"I don't see how this could have happened, I just hope no-one else has been stung by this. To say that and there not be a one day maximum car parking limit is outrageous, this needs to change."
Fortunately, the local ward councillor Gemma McCracken has guaranteed her a full refund.
The accountant, Ruth Ritchie, used the PayByPhone app to pay for one hour's parking while attending an appointment with her financial adviser. The payment should have been just £1.20, but Ms Ritchie received a call from her bank's fraud squad in which she was told that she had been charged £6,500.
The Mirror reported that, according to the owners of the car park, Swindon Borough Council, Ms Ritchie was issued with the charge because she had selected to pay for 4,000 hours of parking through the app, a claim she strongly denies.
Ms Ritchie said: "I'm an accountant so I'm used to keying in numbers. It's absolute rubbish. Plus how can someone even pay for 4,000 hours of parking upfront?"
She added: "I very clearly paid for one hour of parking. There must be a fault on the system as it kept cutting off when I was trying to pay.
"I don't see how this could have happened, I just hope no-one else has been stung by this. To say that and there not be a one day maximum car parking limit is outrageous, this needs to change."
Fortunately, the local ward councillor Gemma McCracken has guaranteed her a full refund.
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